Chapter II

Near one of the forward poles stood Silan Petroff in a red shirt, open at the neck, showing his powerful throat and hairy chest, hard as an anvil. A thatch of gray hair fell over his forehead, under which laughed great black, warm eyes. His sleeves, turned up to the elbow, showed the veins standing out on his arms as they held the pole. Silan was leaning slightly forward, and looking watchfully ahead. Marka stood a few paces from him, glancing with a satisfied smile at the strong form of her lover. They were both silent and busy with their several thoughts. He was peering into the distance, and she followed the movements of his virile, bearded face.

“That must be a fisherman’s fire, ” said he, turning toward her.

“It’s all right; we’re keeping on our course, Ouch! ” And he puffed out a full, hot breath, and gave a powerful shove with his pole.

“Don’t tire yourself Mashourka, ” he continued, watching her, as with her pole she made a skilful movement.

She was round and plump, with black, bright eyes and ruddy cheeks; barefooted, dressed only in a damp petticoat, which clung to her body, and showed the outline of her figure. She turned her face to Silan and, smiling pleasantly, said: “You take too much care of me; I’m all right! ”

“I kiss you, but I don’t take care of you, ” answered Silan, moving his shoulders.

“That’s not good enough! ” she replied, provokingly; and they both were silent, looking at each other with desiring eyes.

Under the rafts, the water gurgled musically. On the right bank, very far off, a cock crew. Swaying lightly under their feet, the raft floated on toward a point where the darkness dissolved into lighter tones, and the clouds took on themselves clearer shapes and less sombre hues.

“Silan Petrovitch, do you know what they were shouting about there? I know. I bet you I know. It was Mitia who was complaining about us to Sergei; and it was he who cried out with trouble, and Sergei was cursing us! ”

Marka questioned anxiously Silan’s face, which, after her words, became grim and coldly stubborn.

“Well! ” shortly.

“Well, that’s all! ”

“If that’s all, there was nothing to say.”

“Don’t get angry.”

“Angry with you? I should like to be angry with you, but I can’t.”

“You love Marsha? ” she whispered, coaxingly leaning toward him.

“You bet! ” answered Silan, with emphasis, stretching out toward her his powerful arms. “Come now, don’t tease me! ”

She twisted her body with the movements of a cat, and once more leaned toward him.

“We shall upset the steering again, ” whispered he, kissing her face which burned under his lips.

“Shut up now! They can see us at the other end; ” and motioning aft with her head, she struggled to free herself, but he held her more tightly still with one arm, and managed the pole with the other hand.

“They can see us? Let them see us. I spit on them all! I’m sinning, that’s true; I know it; and shall have to answer for it to God; but still you never were his wife; you were free; you belonged to yourself. He’s suffering, I know. And what about me? Is my position a pleasant one? It is true that you were not his wife; but all the same, with my position, how must I feel now? Is it not a dreadful sin before God? It is a sin! I know it all, and I’ve gone through everything! Because it’s a thing worth doing!

“We love only once, and we may die any day. Oh! Marka! If I’d only waited a month before marrying you to Mitia, nothing of this would have happened. Directly after the death of Anfisa I would have sent my friends to propose for you, and all would have been right! Right before the law; without sin, without shame. That was my mistake, and this mistake will take away from me five or ten years of my life. Such a mistake as that makes an old man of one before one’s time.”

Silan Petroff spoke with decision, but quietly, while, an expression of inflexible determination flashed from his face, giving him the appearance of a man who was ready then and there to fight and struggle for the right to love.

“Well, it’s all right now; don’t trouble yourself any more. We have talked about it more than once already, ” whispered Marka, freeing herself gently from his arms, and returning to her oar.

He began working his pole backward and forward, rapidly and energetically, as if he wished to get rid of the load that weighed on his breast, and cast a shadow over his fine face.

Day broke gradually.

The clouds, losing their density, crept slowly away on every side, as if reluctantly giving place to the sunlight. The surface of the river grew lighter, and took on it the cold gleam of polished steel.

“Not long ago he talked with me about it. ‘Father, ’ he said, ‘is it not a deadly shame for you, and for me? Give her up! ’ He meant you, ” explained Silan, and smiled. “‘Give her up, ’ he said; ‘return to the right path! ’ ‘My dear son, ’ I said, ‘go away if you want to save your skin! I shall tear you to pieces like a rotten rag! There will be nothing left of your great virtue! It’s a sorrow to me to think that I’m your father! You puny wretch! ’ He trembled. ‘Father, ’ he said, ‘am I in the wrong? ’ You are, ’ I said, ‘you whining cur, because you are in my way! You are, ’ I said, ‘because you can’t stand up for yourself! You lifeless, rotten carrion! If only, ’ I said, ‘you were strong, one could kill you; but even that isn’t possible! One pities you, poor, wretched creature! ’ He only wept. Oh, Marka! This sort of thing makes one good for nothing. Any one else would—would get their heads out of this noose as soon as possible, but we are in it, and we shall perhaps tighten it round each other’s necks! ”

“What do you mean? ” said Marka, looking at him fearfully, as he stood there grim, strong and cold.

“Nothing! If he were to die! That’s all. If he were to die— what a good thing it would be! Everything would be straight then! I would give all my land to your family, to make them shut their mouths; and we two might go to Siberia, or somewhere far away. They would ask, ‘Who is she? ’ ‘My wife! Do you understand? ’

“We could get some sort of paper or document. We could open a shop somewhere in a village, and live. And we could expiate our sin before God. We could help other people to live, and they would help us to appease our consciences. Isn’t that so, Marsha? ”

“Yes, ” said she, with a deep sigh, closing her eyes as if in thought.

They remained silent for a while; the water murmured.

“He is sickly. He will, perhaps, die soon, ” said Silan after a time.

“Please God it may be soon! ” said Marka, as if in prayer, and making the sign of the cross.

The rays of the spring sun broke through the clouds, and touched the water with rainbow and golden tints. At the breath of the wind all nature thrilled, quickened, and smiled. The blue sky between the clouds smiled back at the sun-warmed waters. The raft, moving on, left the clouds astern.

Gathering in a thick and heavy mass, they hung motionless, and dreaming over the bright river, as if seeking a way to escape from the ardent spring sun, which, rich in color and in joy, seemed the enemy of these symbols of winter tempests.

Ahead, the sky grew clearer and brighter, and the morning sun, powerless to warm, but dazzling bright as it glitters in early spring, rose stately and beautiful from the purple-gold waves of the river, and mounted higher and ever higher into the blue limpid sky. On the right showed the brown, high banks of the river, surmounted by green woods; on the left emerald green fields glittered with dew diamonds. In the air, floated the smell of the earth, of fresh springing grass, blended with the aromatic scent of a fir wood.

Sergei and Mitia stood as if rooted to their oars, but the expression on their faces could not be distinguished by those on the forward part of the raft.

Silan glanced at Marka.

She was cold. She leaned forward on her pole in a doubled-up attitude. She was looking ahead with dreaming eyes; and a mysterious, charming smile prayed on her lips—such a smile as makes even an ugly woman charming and desirable.

“Look ahead, lads! Ahoy! Ahoy! ” hailed Silan, with all the force of his lungs, feeling a powerful pulse of energy and strength in his strong breast.

And all around seemed to tremble with his cry. The echo resounded long from the high banks on either side.